The 20 Richest People Of All Time

Our list of the twenty richest, based on scholarly estimates and adjusted for inflation, includes entrepreneurs, warriors, and robber barons. We did not include monarchs, whose vast wealth is considered public.

You'll notice much of the list come from England and America. Partly this happens because that's where estimates were available. But it's also true extreme private wealth occurred only several times in history, such as: The great lords of England, the Gilded Age, and today's credit bubble.